TNT taps Justin Timberlake, Jamie Foxx to hype NBA

NEW YORK (MediaWeek) - TNT is gilding its NBA playoff promotional campaign with a few megawatts of star power, enlisting Justin Timberlake and Jamie Foxx to anchor the upcoming "Win or Go Home" initiative.

Tipping off Friday, April 2, a long-form marketing spot featuring Timberlake and Foxx will begin running in some 1,200 Regal Cinemas theaters nationwide. Timing out at two minutes and 30 seconds, TNT's NBA push will appear during the trailer reel in nearly 16,000 Regal Cinemas screens.

The theater spot opens on the two celebrities jawing about the contenders most likely to hoist the Larry O'Brien NBA Championship Trophy in June. Clips of the likes of Kobe Bryant and LeBron James lead into a montage of perennial threats from the Eastern and Western Conferences: Kevin Garnett, Steve Nash, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard and Vince Carter.

During the rundown of the teams most likely to secure a playoff bid, Foxx gets off the best joke, observing that while he loves Phoenix, "there are too many vegetarians" on the team.

A debate about the merits of defense versus point production leads the two spokesmen to ditch a red carpet event for an impromptu one-on-one. After each amateur puts up the rock or pivots toward the hoop, the spot cuts to a mirror image of an NBA player making the same move. The Regal spot ends with the NBA Playoffs and TNT logos and the tag "Win or Go Home."

In addition to the theatrical campaign, a series of spot buys will target major NBA markets Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles and Orlando, Fla. Turner will also place NBA Playoffs teasers on its family of nationally distributed cable networks, including TNT, TBS, CNN and truTV.

Social media will play a significant role over the course of TNT's two-month hoops push. The NBA on TNT Facebook page offers interactive elements (polls, contests), plus a co-branded "Win or Go Home" Playoff picks game that allows fans to challenge friends to predict the outcomes of various stat categories.

Other digital marketing efforts include daily updated videos on the NBA YouTube channel, a take-over on Yahoo Sports' home page on Wednesday, May 19 and ads posted on relevant sites like NBA.com, SI.com and Yahoo Sports. Rounding out the campaign are a backpage spread in the April Playboy and buys in USA Today and the NBA's Hoop magazine.
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